A Border Issue
The southern border has been under high focus during this presidency and will continue into the 2020 election.
President Donald Trump has tried to declare a nation emergency at the United States Mexico border.
ince the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, he has emphasized increased security along the southern border with a border wall. Now that he has been in office for over half of his term, border funding is a critical issue for the 2020 election.
On Feb. 15, 2019, President Trump issued an executive order declaring a national state of emergency regarding border security, according to nytimes.com. This declaration gave Trump access to billions of dollars to fund the wall that Congress had thus far refused. Debates over the constitutionality of this action and if it oversteps the powers of the executive branch quickly formed.
Trump’s action was also highly criticized due to his statement of the national emergency not being necessary.
“I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster,” President Trump said after Congress passed a budget without wall funding, according to nytimes.com.
On March 15, 2019, the President’s first veto was used after Congress passed a bipartisan resolution to end the national emergency, according to nytimes.com.
“Today, I am vetoing this resolution,” President Trump said. “Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution, and I have the duty to veto it.”
While Congress can override this veto with a two-thirds majority, the predicted support is not enough. With the money allocated by Congress and other executive actions to pull funding from the Pentagon and the Treasury Department, President Trump could gather the $8 billion he seeks for the border wall, according to cnbc.com.
The issue of the border wall will still be at the forefront of policy before the 2020 election. With the matter of funding still ongoing, the situation has grown murky and many are not sure how it will end.
